Sunday, September 28, 2014

Recipe: No bake low carb cheesecake bites

You can see I'm stocking up on low carb sweets at the moment, having desserts around that fit in a restricted calorie or carb diet make it easier to maintain my weight. I also like to portion control any treats, you'll notice I use small tins and moulds for many desserts. This avoids the temptation to take "just a little more" and gives me an excuse to make whimsical looking sweets

I tried a number of baked low carb cheesecake recipes with no success on texture, this no bake fridge/freezer cake is my best yet. This is a terribly easy recipe that is delicious and can be adapted to any flavour, whether you're carb watching or not!

Filling

Neufchatel is the best cheese to give that "just like Sara Lee" taste, but if you can't find it at your local supermarket then any brick of Cream Cheese will do just as well

I keep these in the freezer so that 1 batch can last many days, I take out one portion about 20 mins before I intend to eat it

If you like a stiffer consistency or would like to serve straight from the fridge rather than the freezer then add 1 sheet of gelatin or replace the sweetener with a box of Sugar Free Lemon jelly (jello) dissolved in half a cup of water

Using other flavours of jelly (or sugar free flavour syrups) allow you to mix and match flavours like cherry, raspberry or orange.

Soften the cream cheese either by leaving it out of the fridge for an hour or by microwaving for 30 seconds (make sure to remove the foil!)

Melt the butter on the stove or in the microwave; I melt the butter and then take out a couple of spoons for the crust and use the rest in the batter.

Using a hand mixer or food processor mix the Cream Cheese and Butter together. Make sure that you have returned the butter to a luke warm temperature or it will cause the cheese to curdle

Grate the rind of your lime (or half of a lemon) and juice the fruit, add both the rind and the juice to the cheese/butter mix

Add the cream and the sweetener and then mix on a medium speed until all the ingredients are combined

For easy serving into moulds or tins I then transfer the mixture into a measuring jug for easy pouring, the mixture should have the same consistency as melted ice cream

Pour your mixture into your moulds and then move into the freezer, this recipe will take around 2 hours to set.

I use silicon moulds for freezing, these are perfect in cupcake form. I put the silicon liners in a cupcake tray and then put the whole tray in the freezer.

These make great frozen 'bites' without the crust, use fancy jelly or ice moulds to make small treats you can pop out any time like these Mooncake shapes I've created with a cheap jelly mould. Without the crust, and in smaller sizes, make these closer to an "every day" treat at around 100 calories each

To ensure the shape stays 'perfect' prepare the night before and don't be tempted to pop out until the mixture is firm!

This recipe makes 9 mini cupcake desserts, or more if you choose a smaller mould. Macros for 9 servings are 264 calories, 25g Fat, 3.5g Carbs (2.5g Net) per serving

Top with a slice of citrus, nuts or fruit toppings if you're not a low carb eater